Sep. 11, 2018, 12:11 p.m.

If it weren’t already apparent by his 23-fight knockout streak and his record-tying run of middleweight-title victories, there’s a cold hardness to Gennady Golovkin’s mannerisms.

So when Canelo Alvarez’s team asked Golovkin to further reduce the 45% purse cut he’d already agreed to — and to do it by a specific deadline — the icy denial could be felt from the Moscow phone conversation the unbeaten champion hung up from last week.

“I agreed to do 45 because I thought this is exactly how much I was worth,” Golovkin told reporters in Los Angeles in his first public comments since his Sept. 15 showdown with Mexico’s popular former two-division champion was finalized.

Sep. 11, 2018, 10:29 a.m.

In Episode 1 on the new Pound for Pound series, follow Los Angeles Times reporter Lance Pugmire as he prepares for the rematch between Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin.

From the controversial suspension for performance-enhancing drugs by Alvarez that postponed the fight last May to Golovkin’s concerns over judging, Lance Pugmire takes you behind the scenes of one of the most anticipated rematches of the century.

In Episode 1 on the new Pound for Pound series, follow Los Angeles Times reporter Lance Pugmire as he prepares for the rematch between Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin.